The Works of the Flesh — The Spiritual Man

The Works of the Flesh

The flesh has many expressions. From God’s perspective—which we have already seen—the flesh is hostile toward God and incapable of pleasing Him. Yet without the revelation of the Holy Spirit, neither believers nor sinners can truly grasp how worthless, detestable, and defiled the flesh is before God. It is only when God, through His Spirit, reveals the true condition of the flesh to a person that one gains God’s perspective and is able to treat the flesh accordingly.

However, the manifestation of the flesh on the human side is something observable by all. If one does not excuse oneself, and no longer walks "according to the desires of the flesh" (Eph 2:3) as one formerly did, it becomes apparent just how defiled the flesh is from the human perspective. Galatians 5:19–21 presents a list of the sins of the flesh, leaving no room for misunderstanding:

"Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these."

According to this list of sins, the apostle says, “The works of the flesh are obvious.” Anyone who is willing to understand can clearly see. If one wants to know whether they belong to the flesh, let them simply ask whether they are practicing the works of the flesh. A fleshly person does not need to exhibit every behavior listed in order to be counted as fleshly; if just one is present, it is more than enough to identify them as belonging to the flesh. For if the flesh no longer ruled, then where did that one deed come from? The presence of a single work of the flesh is evidence of the existence of the flesh.

These sins can generally be grouped into five categories:

1. Gross bodily sins, such as sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery.

2. Interactions with Satan involving sinful supernatural contact, such as idolatry and sorcery.

3. Sinful tempers and dispositions, such as enmities, strife, jealousy, and anger.

4. Religious divisions, such as quarrels, dissensions, factions, and envy.

5. Indulgence in cravings, such as drunkenness and carousing.

These sins are all evident and visible. Whoever manifests such things is a person of the flesh.

When we categorize these sins into five types, we may observe that some appear nobler than others, and some more defiled. But regardless of how humans judge, in God’s sight, all of these sins arise from the same root—the flesh—whether it be defiled flesh or cultured flesh. Believers who often commit the more obviously vile sins naturally recognize that they are fleshly. The most difficult case, however, is with those who seem to have overcome the more disgraceful sins. They tend to think they are better than others and find it hard to admit that they are still fleshly. Because they do not see the outwardly filthy sins in their lives, they assume they are no longer walking according to the flesh. But do they not know? Flesh is still flesh, no matter how cultured its appearance.

“Strife, factions, dissensions, and sectarianism”—though seemingly cleaner than “sexual immorality, debauchery, impurity, and carousing”—are fruits of the same tree. May we, at this moment, bring these three verses before God in prayer, asking Him to open our eyes that we might know ourselves. May our prayers lead us to humility. May we pray until we weep, until we grieve over our sins, realizing that we are nothing more than Christians in name—professing to be spiritual, yet still exhibiting many works of the flesh in our lives. May our prayers ignite a burning desire within to remove all that is of the flesh so that God may show grace to us.

The first work of the Holy Spirit is to cause such a person to “convict himself of sin” (cf. John 16:8). A sinner, if not convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit, cannot see the wretchedness of his sin and flee from the wrath to come by surrendering to Christ. But even after that, such a one must experience a second conviction of sin: a Christian must also convict himself of sin. Unless we see the detestable and loathsome nature of our own fleshly condition and are inwardly reproved, we will never become truly spiritual people. Oh! Though the sins we commit may differ, our flesh is no different. Now is the time for us to humble ourselves and prostrate before God, and to let the Holy Spirit convict us afresh of our sins!